The Cleveland Cavaliers came into game one of their series against the Raptors after not playing for a week. Many speculated whether they would come out with any kind of energy against a Toronto team that has found their groove offensively. The Q was rocking, and the Cavs were able to feed off of that energy and jump on the Raptors early and often. Cleveland took the lead early in the first quarter and never looked back, defeating the Cavs 116-105. LeBron James dominated the game in every way, scoring a game-high 35 points. The Raptors need to go back to the drawing board to avoid being swept in this series.
Early Dominance
The Cavs said they would need the first six minutes of the game to feel out their opponents. Many thought they would need to shake the rust off as well after resting for a week. The Cavs came out the gate on fire jumping to an early lead over the Cavs. LeBron James got it going early doing what he does best, setting up his teammates and throwing down vicious off the glass dunk. The Cavs jumped on Toronto early, having a 30-18 lead after the first quarter. The energy from the Cavs was off the charts, and it seems like the rest helped them out more than people expected it to.
The Raptors seemed sluggish out the gate and couldn't recover fast enough. Nobody could cover King James on the defensive end, and that led to a plethora of dunks and layups from The King and the Cavs.
With this game one loss, the Raptors fell to 1-12 all-time in playoff openers. The Raptors are coming off a six-game series against the Milwaukie Bucks that was anything but easy, and it showed. They seemed tired and couldn't keep up with the Cavs offense that looked like it was on another level in the conference semis.
King James Reigns
LeBron James looked like he benefitted the most from the week's worth of rest, as he was unstoppable in game one in Cleveland. James finished with 35 points, ten rebounds, and four assists. James was hitting his shots from the perimeter and making his shots at the free throw line, going 7-8 at the charity stripe.
He did log a game-high 41 minutes, but at this point, his body is used to working that hard this often this season. King James had a little fun during the game, as he was going to drink a beer after being fouled, but declined after picking up the bottle. James said that he would feel better on Wednesday, as he said he need to feel out the team and get a little conditioning in during the game. If this isn't LeBron at his peak, the Raptors have something to be scared of heading into game two.
Kyrie Irving added 24 points, and Kevin Love added 18 of his own. All of the Cavs starters landed in the plus section in the plus/minus category for the game. The Cavs looked like the were in sync on both sides of the floor, something that couldn't be said the second half of the season.
Cleveland is hoping to keep this going, as the Raptors will come back with a better plan for game two.
The Cavs showed their dominance against the Raptors and had control of the game all the way until the final whistle. The Cavs now hold a 1-0 lead as this series is just getting started. The Raptors will need to have better production from their starters in order to keep up with Cleveland. LeBron James will come back even stronger game two, so the Raptors should prepare for that. Catch game two on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on TNT.
